Google patent would track what users are looking at

If we're all going to be wearing Internet-connected headsets in the future, why not charge advertisers for what we see and how it makes us feel?

If we’re all going to be wearing Internet-connected headsets in the future, why not charge advertisers for what we see and how it makes us feel?

That seems to be the idea behind a patent awarded to Google Inc. recently for a head-mounted eye-tracking system that could enable “pay-per-gaze advertising,” or a method of charging advertisers when a wearer views certain images online or in the real world. By measuring pupil dilation, at least in theory, the system also could determine the wearer’s “emotional state” at the time of viewing.

Google hasn’t announced any plans for the patent, and sources said none are in the works. While the idea sounds as if it could work with Glass, the wearable Internet gadget that Google has been developing for consumer use, the company’s current rules forbid any advertising on Glass.

“We hold patents on a variety of ideas,” said a Google spokesman. “Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services; some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patents.”

But the patent file, spotted last week by a blogger for Fast Company, contains an intriguing description of a system for “receiving scene images from a head-mounted gaze-tracking device,” which would track eye movement through a lens or small prism in front of the wearer’s eyes. In theory, the system would then identify the images, presumably using some kind of recognition software, and generate a log of “identified items” that the person has seen.

One potential use for the information would be to charge advertisers every time a wearer views a scene that includes an ad — whether it’s an online commercial or a billboard in the real world, according to the patent. The system also could trigger the display of an online ad tied to whatever the wearer is seeing in the real world.

The patent says the system could even measure how long a person looked at the ad and what drew the wearer’s attention. And, if that’s not enough, it could measure pupil dilation to determine the wearer’s “emotional state” at the time of viewing.

“Further, the inferred emotional-state information can be provided to an advertiser (perhaps for a premium fee) so that the advertiser can gauge the success of their advertising campaign,” the patent summary explains.

“For example, if the advertiser desires to generate a shocking advertisement to get noticed or a thought-provoking advertisement, then the inferred emotional-state information and/or the gazing duration may be valuable metrics to determine the success of the campaign with real-world consumers.”

While the idea raises questions about privacy and other social concerns, the patent documents state, “To protect individual privacy, personal identifying data may be removed from the data and provided to the advertisers as anonymous analytics.”